


Every Ending Brings a Beginning

by nerdlife4eva



Series: Nerd's Chasing Gold Zine Story [1]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Olympics, Amputees, Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Humor, Coach Katsuki Yuuri, Coach Victor Nikiforov, Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Enemies to Friends, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Injury Recovery, M/M, Paralympics, Permanent Injury, Rivalry, Triathlon, Zine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-25 19:49:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13219974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdlife4eva/pseuds/nerdlife4eva
Summary: Victor and Yuuri spent their athletic careers competing as triathletes, trading gold medal positions and dominating their fields with their different breeds of strength and determination. In retirement, Yuuri has become the coach of Minami, a Paralympic athlete born without his left hand and the majority of his left leg. Victor has taken on a similar challenge, however, he is attempting to coach Yuri Plisetsky as the young athlete comes to terms with his own limb loss.Coaches Phichit and Chris, whose shared goals include training their athletes toward gold medals in archery and finally shoving their best friends out of their comfort zone and into each other's arms, will also make appearances throughout this series.A different take on what it means to discover yourself, accept the love around you, and triumph above all obstacles.





	Every Ending Brings a Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fic in my series leading up to my final piece which will be included in the amazing [yoichasinggoldzine](https://yoichasinggoldzine.tumblr.com)
> 
> Please follow the blog on Tumblr for all the news about ordering this zine and to see the work of all the incredible writers and artists who will be a part of this project!!
> 
> One of the organizers of this zine, the incredibly talented [katsukifatale](http://katsudons.co.vu) created the art which you will see in this first story :). 
> 
> I will let you know if a zine artist decides to collab with me on this so you can shower them with love as well!!

Chatter filled the studio, half-bathed in the bright light while the other half was cloaked in dimness. The back drop was blinding in its pale blue hue interrupted only by fake tree stumps and piles of fake snow. People mulled around setting cameras and discussing angles as Victor stood next to the makeshift dressing rooms, arms crossed watching the familiar chaos unfold. Years of photoshoots had made this experience boring and repetitive, but there was more of a reason to be excited now. A person he was patiently waiting to gain a glimpse of from across the room.

As if waiting on a cue, Chris stepped to Victor’s side. They had become best friends as teens and had been sharing the woes of coaching over the last four years. Victor made a name for himself as a gold-medaling triathlete, retiring to coach a single paratriathlon athlete, while Chris collected his golds as an Olympic athlete turned coach in Paralympic archery and also in the delicate art of torturing his best friend. “These outfits leave very little to the imagination.” Chris’s quip came with a nudge to Victor’s side and a knowing smirk as another man stepped into view on the other side of the outlandish back dropout. “Very little…” Chris snickered, wiggling his eyebrows despite Victor’s inability to look anywhere else.

The red velvet shorts trimmed in white puffs of fluffy cotton looked obscene even on Victor’s slender hips. On Yuuri Katsuki, however, the same red shorts were a sight crafted by the gods. Biting his tongue to hold back a whistle, Victor glanced pitifully in Chris’s direction. Before he could begin another round of worshipping the heavenly ass of Coach Katsuki, his words were cut off by a series of angry curses escaping from behind the curtain of the popup dressing room. Trying to hide his amusement, Victor looked over his shoulder. “Are you okay in there, Yuri?” Another stream of Russian accented curse words made Victor chuckle, turning to step toward his athlete.

Shoving the curtain back, Yuri glared at his coach. “Are you kidding me? What sadist decided these outfits make any kind of sense?” Continuing to yank at the lower hem of his shorts, Yuri glowered across the room toward the photographers. “Don’t even get me started on the stupid hat!” Yuri threw his hat at Victor’s chest, looking ready for a fight when Victor shook his head, stepping into Yuri’s space and fixing the hat over his blond locks. “Why is this Christmas themed?” Yuri spat, shoving Victor away from him, “Christmas isn’t for months!” He stumbled slightly, hand flying to his prosthetic leg as he swatted out at Victor. He didn’t need pity or help, and he conveyed this sentiment through a sharp grind of his teeth and an even sharper growl.

“The calendars are to raise money for the Paralympics, Yuri,” Victor stepped back, watching Yuri adjust his prosthetic with the ever-present scowl that his athlete always wore. Even before the accident, Yuri Plisetsky was borderline terrifying in his intensity. Following the loss of his leg, that intensity had swollen to levels that most refused to tolerate. Except for Victor, who had offered his services as Yuri’s coach and had never backed down through the worst of Yuri’s tantrums and the most devastating of his breakdowns. They were a team, despite how many times Yuri tried to pretend they weren’t. “This is important, you know it is. So grin and bear it, will you?”

With a resigned roll of his eyes, Yuri straightened his back. He shoved his hat further on his head, expression changing back to aggressive as he spotted Minami approaching his own coach. “They’re here?!” Yuri demanded, spit flying from his mouth as he yelled into the side of Victor’s face. “Why am I here with that idiot?”

Taking a patient breath, Victor tore his eyes away from the beautiful face of his longest crush. “Minami is your rival. The photoshoot today is rivals. You and I will pose with Yuuri and Minami. Coach versus coach, athlete versus athlete. And you’ll do it with a smile, or you will be doing laps as soon as we get home.” Flicking the back of Yuri’s ear, Victor pointed toward the closest makeup chair, shoving Yuri toward the anxious looking young woman doomed to apply makeup to the angry kitten’s face.

Once they were alone, Christophe looped an arm over Victor’s shoulders. “Amazing strategy by the way,” Chris unabashedly smirked at the flush taking over Victor’s cheeks. “Pitting Yuri against Minami in the media. A sure-fire way to get your name and your face printed next to Yuuri’s for the world to see.”

“That’s not… I mean… that’s not why… it’s a… happy coincidence?” Victor shrugged as he avoided Chris’s eyes, feeling himself being shaken from side-to-side. If he had somehow, magically, managed to build a rivalry between his athlete and Yuuri’s through a series of well-orchestrated social media interactions, it was definitely in the name of healthy competition and gathering attention to support the Paralympics. It definitely had nothing to do with decade-long crush on the elusive Yuuri Katsuki. Definitely nothing at all.

“Come on, lover boy,” Chris dropped his arm, opting to link his elbow with Victor’s instead. “Let’s go say hi to the competition and your future husband.” Chris’s rich laughter filled the studio as he dragged Victor forward, determinedly ignoring Victor’s embarrassed protests as he attempted to finally throw his best friend into the arms of his future.

* * *

 

“He’s doing it again,” Phichit hissed, pressing his finger into Yuuri’s side and nodding over his own bare shoulder. The excited wiggle of Phichit’s eyebrows made Yuuri seriously consider smacking his friend. Phichit Chulanont was the youngest archery coach in Paralympic history, but he was also the best and worst friend who anyone could ever want. Placing his hands on Yuuri’s elbows, Phichit tried to turn Yuuri’s body to face in the opposite direction, huffing his frustration when Yuuri refused to turn around.

Yuuri’s body was covered in goosebumps where his skin was left bare, only a small portion of his lower half covered by the ridiculously required velvet shorts. Yuuri hated the costume choices, loved the cause, and currently wanted to do nothing more than to murder his best friend.

“Who’s doing what?” Minami inquired, bouncing up to Yuuri’s side with the natural-born enthusiasm that Minami always possessed. Grinning, he modeled his own short shorts for Phichit’s camera, posing with his prosthetic leg extended in a dramatic stretch toward the ceiling. He held the pose while Phichit adjusted the phone angles, humming to reiterate his question.

“Victor is staring at Yuuri again,” Phichit stated, barely getting the last word out before he and Minami burst into giggles as Yuuri buried his head in his hands, a whispered _“oh my god”_ escaping from his covered mouth.

Yuuri knew for a fact that Victor Nikiforov, his longest rival, biggest inspiration, and now fellow coach, was not staring at him. He had competed against Victor for years, never having more than a simple _“congratulations”_ exchanged between them. Still, his menace of a best friend and easily influenced athlete kept the joke alive, pursuing it beyond the brink of Yuuri’s sanity. When the whispered choruses of _“Victor loves Yuuri”_ began, Yuuri attempted to ignore them by staring at the ceiling. His nerves were already shot with the very small amount of clothing covering his body and he didn’t need the added stress of the continued teasing. Finally snapping when Minami trailed into a Japanese version of sitting in a tree, Yuuri smacked his hand against Minami’s shoulder. “We’re not sitting in a tree, we’re not k-i-s-s-i-n-g…” he didn’t finish his argument, the words dying on his tongue as an arm dropped over his bare shoulders.

“Who’s not kissing?” Victor asked. His voice shook as his brain registered the skin to skin contact, resisting the urge to kick Chris in the shins as his best friend winked in his direction. Subtle was not Chris’s forte, and Victor wanted to kill him for it.

“You two,” Phichit said easily, aiming his camera in the direction of Yuuri’s and Victor’s faces. He snapped a picture, flashing it toward Chris with a shared conspirator’s smile.

“Chulanont,” Chris’s eyes lingered over Phichit’s barely-there outfit, tearing his gaze away when Minami cleared his throat. “Where’s your archer?” The question was a poor recovery, Chris still unable to pull his heated look away from Phichit for more than a few seconds. When Phichit nodded over his shoulder, Chris followed the gesture, noting Guang Hong and Leo sitting next to each other in closely pulled together makeup chairs.

“It seems our athletes have a bit of a thing for each other,” Phichit laughed, seeing his young archer giggling into his hands over whatever Leo had said. To the world Guang Hong and Leo were friendly rivals, but their coaches knew better. Shaking his head, Phichit retuned his gaze to Victor and Yuuri. The sly grin pulled at his lips as he reached forward to rob Yuuri of his glasses. “It’ll look better on camera without them, right Victor?”

The brown eyes had blinked in Victor’s direction and he had momentarily forgotten his own name. The problem persisted when his name was called by someone else, demanding his presence along with Yuri, Minami, and Yuuri. Reality came back to him as Yuuri waved a hand in front of his face and Chris’s laughter once again fueled Victor’s embarrassment. “What now?” Victor glanced around, noticing Minami already walking away from their group and Phichit joining in on Chris’s laughter.

“Um, they called us.” Waving a hand toward the piles of fake snow, Yuuri struggled to get the words out. He had barely heard anything that had been said from the moment Victor’s arm had taken its place on his shoulders. Shifting, he felt his hat slide awkwardly on his head, regrettably stepping away from the warmth of Victor’s side to peer in the mirror. The squeak that escaped him when Victor pressed against his shoulder to peer in the same mirror was undignified and left Yuuri blushing as he adjusted the hat in his blurry reflection.

Victor was almost too distracted by Yuuri’s beauty to ignore the way his forehead was exposed in his own Santa hat. Concentrating, he rearranged his hat, muttering under his breath about the size of his own forehead.

  


“Your forehead isn’t big,” Yuuri mumbled, “you look good. All of you does.” Eyes growing the size of saucers, Yuuri clamped his hand over his mouth, turning on his heel to rush toward the impatient photographer.

A piece of Victor’s heart went with him, as Victor groaned in Chris’s direction. The compliment reminded Victor too closely of a night in the very last athlete’s village that he had ever shared with Yuuri Katsuki. A night that had changed Victor’s life and broken his heart, all at the same time. Sighing, he punched Chris’s shoulder before making his way to the location of his torture for the next hour.

* * *

 

Heat was building across the back of Yuri’s neck as he was repositioned over an artificial tree stump. In competition he wanted to be the focus of everyone’s attention, but under the unnatural heat of the stilted lights and the judgmental stares of his fellow athletes, Yuri felt a sickness curling into his stomach and the scowl slowly creeping back onto his face. The roll of a single bead of sweat down his spine made him shiver, his hands subconsciously flicking down to his leg with a desperate need to tuck it out of sight.

In contrast, Minami’s smile was still bright as he companionably chatted with the woman showing him how to pose. Although his leg and hand had changed in equipment over the years, he was used to their existence and embraced the power they gave him. Signing up for the calendar had been his idea, a chance to support the games he loved so much while showing pride in his body. Once he had given Yuuri his heartfelt speech, his coach had caved. For every ounce of shy in his coach, Minami had an equal amount of boldness, and the combination never ceased to garnish success.

“Alright crew, last set!” Backing away, the photographer once again lifted her camera, lights flashing in time with her directions.

Smile, look at the camera, look imposing, look at each other, stand up, sit down, be a marionette; all of the instructions of the last hour were burning Yuri’s nerve endings and he could feel his patience beginning to splinter. He didn’t want to be on display. He didn’t want his image plastered all over as if he should be someone’s inspiration. He wanted to compete and he wanted to claim the gold medal that was rightfully his, even if it was in a competition he never expected to be a part of. A small growl escaped him as the photographer declared them finished and he immediately dropped his leg behind the tree stump and out of view. Running his hand over his head to pull off the ridiculous hat, Yuri glared as a hand fell on his shoulder.

“Ready to throw down?” Minami joked, shaking Yuri’s shoulder in friendly fashion. “We only have two months left before we head to the games. I’m pumped, how about you?” An offended look flashed over Minami’s face as Yuri whacked his hand away.

“Why are you talking to me? We’re _rivals_ ,” Yuri snarled, rolling his shoulders back as he stood. He watched Minami slowly stand, continuing to glare in his rival’s direction.

Minami placed his hands on his hips, cocking his head to peer at Yuri. “Rivals doesn’t mean enemies, Yuri. At least it doesn’t have to.” Nodding in the direction of Leo and Guang Hong, Minami waited until Yuri faced him again. “We can be friends and competitors, there is no rule against that.”

“I have rules against that,” Yuri snapped, taking a step back when he realized that Victor was no longer next to him. “I don’t need friends. I need to win. Even if I have to compete in your games.”

Sucking in a harsh breath, Minami opened and closed his left hand. The metal fingers moved with fluidity and Minami raised his hand slightly into the air. “My games?” he questioned, lowering a quick glance to Yuri’s leg. “True, I grew up different, I could never compete in the same games that Yuuri or Victor did or that you could’ve. But what I do? What we all do…” Minami waved his hand toward the other athletes in the room. “It takes a strength that most people can’t understand. And we inspire those younger than us to have the same strength. As much as you might hate it, you are one of us now. You can continue this us versus them stuff you have in your brain, or you can realize we are all in this together. Rivals or not.” Shaking his head, Minami turned his back on Yuri, walking toward the dressing room with a disappointed droop in his shoulders.

Standing alone, Yuri steeled himself against the emotions rising in his chest. He wasn’t meant to be here, fate had been cruel to him in a way that was unfair. No matter what Minami claimed, Yuri was different, and he refused to let the chip fall from his shoulder because of some bright-haired moron’s quasi-inspirational speech. Clamping his jaw shut, Yuri turned on his heel, stomping toward the dressing him without looking at anyone around him. He would show them. He would show them all.

**Author's Note:**

> A huge thank you to my incredible beta [atelerixe](https://atelerixe.tumblr.com), who continues to love me and work with me despite my rampant insecurity and squishy DA character ;)


End file.
